c120: Obito's Plan
In the Land of Fire, at its far western edge, deep in a forest teeming with ancient trees and obscured from chakra sensors by residual natural energy, a figure in a black cloak with a swirling-pattern mask sat idly atop a tree trunk, one leg dangling.
It was Uchiha Obito.
Since the Kyuubi's failed extraction and attack on Konoha, Obito had not returned to the primary base hidden within the Mountains' Graveyard. Instead, he'd begun constantly shifting locations a tactic to avoid being traced by the Flying Thunder God marks Minato Namikaze might have left on him during their battle.
Obito, once convinced of his complete supremacy with Kamui and Zetsu's support, had been deeply shaken by Minato's response speed and sheer combat instincts. Despite initiating the Nine-Tails Incident with confidence, the Yellow Flash had immediately countered him and had nearly killed him. If not for Izanagi, the forbidden Uchiha genjutsu that sacrifices one eye to rewrite reality, Obito might have perished that very night.
A ripple passed through the bark beside him.
A spiral-patterned White Zetsu emerged like mold from the wood, his voice light and strange, laced with irony. It was Fei, one of the more talkative variants.
"Yo~ Obito! Got news."
Obito's exposed Sharingan narrowed behind the mask. "Speak."
Fei grinned. "It's good stuff. Intelligence from our spies across the Five Great Nations confirms it. The Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, is dead. He died sealing the Nine-Tails."
Obito's masked face turned toward the distant canopy. His silence was long.
Fei continued, "You don't need to hide anymore. Konoha's best sensor and time-space ninjutsu user is gone."
"Hmph… It was never fear. I just didn't want our base exposed by that cursed Hiraishin technique," Obito muttered darkly.
"I could handle him anytime… I just chose not to."
Fei didn't challenge the claim, though the truth was clear.
"There's more," Fei said. "The Nine-Tails was split divided into yin and yang halves. One half sealed into Kushina Uzumaki again, the other into her newborn, Uzumaki Naruto."
Obito's gaze sharpened.
He understood instantly Minato had been clever. Not only had he salvaged his family line, but also ensured that Konoha retained the Kyuubi's power in the next generation. A Hokage's decision through and through protecting the future at all costs.
"Typical of the Yellow Flash," Obito muttered. "Strategic, clear-headed… right until the end."
Fei chuckled. "And our network's improving. We intercepted this info via cross-analysis from Kumo, Iwa, and even the border chatter from Amegakure. Most villages don't know the full story."
"Oh, and one more thing Konoha has officially blamed the attack on a descendant of Uchiha Madara."
Obito's masked head turned slightly. "…As expected."
…
After the chaos of the Nine-Tails' attack, Konoha's leadership needed a scapegoat to preserve village unity. Hiruzen Sarutobi, once again acting as interim Hokage, drafted the public statement with the aid of the Administrative Department.
The announcement painted a selective history of Uchiha Madara: once co-founder of Konoha alongside the First Hokage, later estranged due to ideological rifts. It mentioned Madara's lone departure, his return wielding the Kyuubi, and his supposed death at the Valley of the End.
These historical elements were culled from old clan scrolls, partially restored administrative records, and oral testimonies from elders still alive from the Warring States Period.
In the Shinobi World, written history was sparse and often censored. When investigating the past, three methods remained: locating elderly witnesses, accessing highly restricted archives from major clans, or finding private journals from participants.
Officially linking the masked attacker to Madara's bloodline whether true or not gave the villagers closure and deflected suspicion from the wider Uchiha clan, who had fought valiantly during the Nine-Tails' assault.
The narrative worked.
Most civilians, despite their grief, accepted the story. Families torn apart wanted someone to blame but not an entire clan. After all, every family has its black sheep. The sins of one Uchiha decades ago did not stain the modern ones.
Still, resentment festered under the surface. Kushina Uzumaki, despite being the jinchūriki and a hero of the night, bore the brunt of suspicion. Survivors muttered in markets and tea shops: "If the seal had held better," or, "Why was she left unguarded?"
Kushina had known rejection before in her childhood, even among fellow shinobi. With Naruto, Jiraiya's support, and her own grit, she weathered it. But losing Minato had left a hole in her heart, one that no honor or recognition could fill.
…
Back in the forest, Obito scoffed.
"Me? Related to that fossil Madara? Don't make me laugh."
"You're wrong," Fei said with unsettling calm. "According to our genetic profiling from the Sharingan DNA we've collected, you are indeed from Madara's lineage."
"…Madara had descendants? He didn't exactly strike me as the domestic type."
"He never married," Fei admitted. "But clan elders from that era often arranged concubines or selected kunoichi to ensure strong bloodlines. Madara was clan head he couldn't avoid that pressure forever."
"Even if you're not direct blood, your chakra signature and ideological inheritance qualify you as a successor."
"Cut it out with the 'inheritor of the will' nonsense," Obito said irritably.
Fei blinked. "Okay, okay… what now? Return to Konoha and try to extract the Nine-Tails again? Without the Yellow Flash, it should be easy."
"No."
Obito's tone was firm.
"The Kyuubi's Jinchūriki will be under the most elite surveillance. And Kushina's seal even weakened post-childbirth has likely been re-fortified with fuinjutsu from the Uzumaki archives."
"Besides… I have another target."
Obito stood, and the air around him warped faintly a result of residual Kamui activation.
"Black Zetsu reports that Yagura, the Fourth Mizukage, has successfully sealed the reborn Three-Tails into his own body."
"I'll head to Kirigakure. If I can subjugate Yagura with my Sharingan, I'll manipulate Kirigakure from within turn it into a crucible of chaos."
Fei said nothing. He knew this wasn't just about strategy.
Obito's uncovered Sharingan spun, transforming into the iconic Mangekyō three interlocking scythes forming a fan-shaped pinwheel. Rage flickered beneath the surface. Rin…
It was in Kirigakure that Rin Nohara died, forcibly made the Jinchūriki of the Three-Tails as a trap to destroy Konoha. It was that betrayal that birthed Obito's fall.
"Where does Akatsuki stand?" Fei asked, breaking the silence.
"Let them grow naturally for now," Obito replied. "Monitor them, but don't interfere. Their idealistic dreams are useful for recruiting missing-nin."
"…And Zetsu?"
"Send infiltration units into Konoha. We need fresh intelligence."
"Oh — and find me a set of fully-developed three-tomoe Sharingan. Preferably from someone of Uchiha military stock. The more candidates, the better."
He tapped his covered left eye.
"This socket's still empty. I need spare eyes for future Izanagi use."
"Understood," Fei said, his tone flattening.
With that, Obito's body twisted into a swirl of space-time distortion and vanished into the Kamui dimension.
Fei sighed and melted back into the tree trunk, disappearing into the vast woods as if he had never been there.
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